I keep my checkbook in fairly good order and at time, like many of us, I make mathematical errors. Usually it is by a dollar or two. You get distracted when carrying the one and instead of a three you put a five or perhaps a one ans wa-la you are off by two dollars.
That two dollar mistake, especially if you are living paycheck to paycheck can be the difference between just hovering above $0 or being in the hole by as much as $39 dollars.
I have had the pleasure of having these wonderful bank charges, called NSF (non-sufficiant-funds) charged to me over the years. Ten times that I can remember. Two were reversed, lucky me! The others were not. While I can somewhat agree with parts of the law, as there are some rather unscrupulous people out there that write checks knowing that they will bounce.
Until the last 8-10 years many of us 'mythical' little people could go to the store Tuesday night, knowing that the check will not clear the bank until Friday or even as late as the next Monday, up to six days later! Today, many companies have the ACH system, this is where they make a copy of the check, it goes through the very next day, in some rare occasions it may take two days.
By and large, this law is and was designed to hurt the little guy. When one lives paycheck to paycheck it is already a stress to chose whether to pay the bills or buy food before the next payday. Gone are the days of being able to buy food on Tuesday and being forced to wait until Thursday before being able to buy food for ones children.
Of course unless you have lived paycheck to paycheck or gone without a job for more than a couple of weeks and bills become over due, you have no idea!
So this creative bank law (NSF) was given to us via the Newt Gingrich 'Contract With America' back in 1994, so that if you had the nerve to buy food for your kids on Tuesday and you did not get paid until Friday, instead of choosing for your children to go to school or even bed hungry, in supposedly the richest most powerful country in the world.
Banks can charge upwards of $40 for your account going negative $1.01. Thats right at $-.99 cents you are ok, but at $-1.01 you somehow end up owing the bank upwards of $40.
This happened to me today and while in this case it was not because of a choice per se, but because of a mathematical error of $3.00..... three dollars! It was the difference between being positive $1.08 and negative -$2.08. Between being positive $1.08 and negative $-37.08 because the bank has now charged me $35 for being more than negative $-1.01.
I have heard the arguments on why this law is necessary and unless you have always been rich, never lived poor, once lived poor but now are rich and you have forgotten your beginning, you either never lived it or forgot what it is like.
These laws have created a profitable boon for the banks and is succeeding in breaking the back of the little guy. It is time to not just simply look into these laws but to eliminate them or rework them so that it is fair for both the banks and the little guy! Next president of the USA Barack Obama... are you listening?
I leave you with a link to other similar stories:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/130/RipOff0130268.htm
and
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=31878
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